Reel Report: Fishing opportunities abound, but you have to really want it

View full sizeWhiting are providing fishermen with the most consistent bite across the central Gulf Coast. Fresh dead shrimp fished on bottom rigs in breaks in the first sand bar or in wave run-outs from the beach are very effective. (Jeff Dute/jdute@al.com)

There are enough fishing opportunities available to make a day on the water worthwhile, but it's still a matter of having a bunch of "want-to" to brave the weather to go and enduring a slow bite once there.

There is no such thing as a sure-thing in the winter, but the best chance fishermen have at feeling a tug in most any kind of weather except maybe a thunderstorm is most likely now found just off the beaches.

Chris Vecsey at Sam's in Orange Beach said the whiting bite has been very good, especially between Gulf Shores and spots along the Fort Morgan peninsula.

I haven't heard anything from the Dauphin Island beaches, but last year at this time my kids and I could always manage to fill a couple of hours with consistent action.

We enjoyed decent success on dead shrimp working the widespread bar system from the island's public beach west toward the Katrina Cut rocks.

Vecsey said small pieces of dead shrimp fished on the bottom in cuts in the first sand bar or at wave run-outs off the beach are working best for him, too. Ghost shrimp and even squid pieces will get a look from whiting.

Vecsey warned that the beach nourishment project around Gulf Shores has changed the bottom contours and sand bars, so he and his friends are doing plenty of pretrip scouting to find those new spots amenable to holding whiting.

Vecsey added that the sheepshead bite has slowed since water temperature is hovering in the mid-50s, but a few are still being caught around the Perdido Pass jetties and near shore platforms.

A few flounder were also caught recently on sloping bottoms inside the pass.

For the offshore fishermen, Vecsey said the tuna bite is on, but it's been tough for most folks to find a favorable weather window to make the 100-mile-plus minimum run to the southwest to get in on it.

"The bite's been good, but you really gotta want it," he said.

He had not heard any reports about the bull redfish bite.

"Either nobody's trying or it's just been slow because of the cold water temperature," he said.

Inshore guide Bobby Abruscato said the redfish bite at the shallow mouths of bayous, creeks and drains out of Bayou La Batre has fired up again.

Voodoo Shrimp fished under popping corks in water as shallow as a foot deep his bait of choice.

Abruscato caught a few smallish specks in East Fowl River earlier in the week, but the bite is slow. That's also what I'm hearing in the sporadic reports coming from the other tidal rivers around Mobile Bay.

Inshore guide Richard Rutland said specks are in the lower Mobile River, but the schools are scattered.

He and partner Eric Nelson had a five-fish stringer weighing more than 18 pounds to win an artificial-only tournament Saturday despite the nasty looking water on top.

The other two teams in the top three fished within casting distance of the winning team and weighed in more than 14 and 13 pounds respectively.

Rutland said the key is to target slopes in 12 to 14 feet of water that drop into water as deep as 30 feet.

The MirrOlure Provoker sting-ray grub in the opening night color and sweetened with garlic scent was the primary bait the winning team threw to catch more than 70 fish on tournament day.

They're not everywhere, but when you find a school, you can work on them," Rutland said.

Wayne Miller is still catching quality bass from the creeks off main rivers on the lower Mobile-Tensaw Delta.

He and partner Rick Haney weighed in a five-fish limit weighing more than 11 pounds Saturday to win an open bass tournament fished out of Steele Creek in Satsuma.

Soft-plastic creatures baits, crawfish and worms fished very slowly on ledges and/or near wood structure are the best baits right now, he said.